Posts tagged “rail”

Thought for the day….”Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow”

“It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.”

Winter is a great time to sort out the photo collection, and also get rid of the duplicates and not-so-good photos. Far too many photos in the collection, so some serious pruning is needed, although it is a lot of fun going back through the old photos and reliving the moments. A couple of photos here taken not long back, trains around Brienz, Switzerland. Brienz is a Swiss town very much in the shadow of its famous nearby neighbour Interlaken, which receives nearly all the tourists. But Brienz has its own charms, such as the steam train up the Rothorn mountain. Add to this a superb lakeside location, some great bakery cafes and it makes a great alternative to Interlaken. Both photos were taken with the Fuji X-T20 camera.

You just have to feel sorry for the NASA astronaut who discovered recently whilst on a space walk that he had forgotten to put a memory card in his GoPro camera. We have all done that, or have forgotten to recharge the camera batteries, but to be out in space on space walk and discover that you have no memory card in the camera must feel very bad, very bad. And to make it even worse, the omission was even broadcast, the link for the video from NASA is here –

Back down on Earth, here is a photo from a religious even held in the Swiss town of Brig recently –

The Interlaken (Switzerland) to Lucern express train of the Zentralebahn arrives in Meiringen.

Thought for the day…” Do not watch the clock, do what it does…keep going”

“You can’t expect to hit the jackpot if you don’t put a few nickels in the machine.”

Saw an interesting story in the news recently about KFC, who are going to send one of their ‘Zinger Burger’ chicken sandwiches into space, through a company called World View. The project is partly being finance by KFC. So it will be interesting to see the effects of zero gravity and no oxygen on the burger. Of course, KFC will be posting the details on their webpages live. Not that KFC are first with their idea, previously a pie company has sent one of its meat pies into space to space to study the effects of space on it. Interesting, that ‘launch’ took place from outside a pub in northern England !!

Today’s photo comes from 70 degrees north, in Finnmark province at the top of Norway. The reindeer are easy to spot at this time of year, especially as they come near the towns lower down to feed on spring grass. The photo was taken hand-held using the Fuji X-T20 and Fuji 100-400mm lens.

and another photo….a cross country train starts it trip from Penzance, Cornwall, England

Thought for the day..”Public opinion is no more than this: what people think that other people think.”

“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” (George Patton)

What is the world coming to? News on the internet is that the Swiss town of Bergun in the Graubunden area has voted to ban photography in it’s area. People taking photos will be fined CHF4 under the new bylaw. Apparently, the local council has already taken down publicity photos from the internet. So many places in the world are restricting photography, you have only to think of the USA where photographing public buildings is now likely to lead to trouble with the authorities, and in many places in the world, taking photos near an airport is also likely to lead to problems. It is amazing that the central government in Switzerland has allowed the town of Bergun to introduce the new photography ban. It would certainly change my decision to visit any town if it had a photography ban. What has happened to freedom? And what is the town of Bergun so afraid of??? Surely any town should be please that people want to visit and take photographs. And because Switzerland is usually a civilised country, then the photography ban is even more surprising. Recently Sweden introduced a complete ban on filming from drones/quadcopters without special permission, and other countries are gradually introducing more restrictions as well.

Today’s photo is a scan of a slide taken many years ago, a local train from St. Ives passes the beach at Carbis Bay in Cornwall, England.

and another photo…..a scanned slide photo from the 1990s. A Penzance to London train in the Glynn Valley near Bodmin Road in Cornwall, England.

Thought for the day…”Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.”

Did you see the story in the news about a survivor of the recent air crash in Dubai? Mohammed Khadar was returning to Dubai from India when the Emirates 777 aircraft crashed on landing. All 300 passengers got off the aircraft, which later burnt out. Mr. Khadar, who works in Dubai, purchased a lottery ticket in the duty free shop in airport, and won a USD 1 million cash prize. Commenting on his win, he said that his escape from the crashed aircraft was a miracle, but that the money would make enemies. Lucky !!

The photo today comes from the famous dye pots in Fez, Morocco.

and another photo from the archives…..the night sleeper train from Trondheim, Norway to Oslo.

Thought for the day…” Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving” (Einstein).

” If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there”.

Around 3.2 million people live in Albania, which borders Greece in the south and Montenegro in the north. Italy is just 72km away across the sea, yet Albania remains one of the poorest parts of Europe. One strange difference in Albania is that shaking your head means ‘yes’ whilst nodding your head means ‘no’. Today’s photo shows the train from the Albanian capital, Tirana arriving at the second largest city of Durres. At the time the photo was taken, trains ran all the way from the capital, however now the main train has been demolished to make way for new roads ! Even when it was operating all the way, average speeds were extremely poor, with the 38km journey taking around 90 minutes. Compare that to the world record for a conventional train, held by the French TGV which reached a top speed of 574.8 km/h in April 2007. Up to July 2011 (when its top speed was limited to save energy) the Chinese CRH2 Harmony train covered the 922km from Wuhan to Guangzhou at an average of 313 km/h.

and another photo from the archives….boats in Essiouria, Morocco. Spot the man on the boats….

Thought for the day…” Minds are like parachutes, they only function when open”.

” When it is time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived”

News on the net is that over 1700 private jets are expected in connection with the World Economic Forum, which is being held in Davos, Switzerland. Zurich airport has already exhausted its private jet parking spaces, and a nearby military base is being opened up to cope with the overflow. And demand for helicopters is also breaking records. So what will the 2500 world leaders and business managers actually achieve at Davos??? No doubt lots of talk and lots of very expensive dining, but to what end? To me, it seems like just another excuse for an expensive luxury trip to wine and dine in Switzerland. Try telling that to the millions in Greece who have been without jobs for a long time, and where youth unemployment (ages between 15 and 24) is now over 60%. And whilst some people in Greece and Portugal have to queue for food handouts from charities, the 2500 world leaders and business managers will be dining in style in Davos in 5 star luxury.

Today’s photo is not from a private jet, but is a nice photo of clouds. This photo works much better in black & white, as then it concentrates attention on the shape of the clouds themselves.

and another photo out of the archives…..a steam train in Uppsala Sweden.

Thought for the day….”Out on the edge, you see all sorts of things that you cannot see from the centre”.

” Losers make promises that they often break, winners make commitments that they always keep”

A photo today of the world record holder for conventional trains, the French TGV. The train, seen here in Lausanne station (Switzerland) carries a special paint scheme, and includes details of the world record which it broke on 3rd April 2007, when it achieved a top speed of 574.8 km/h. Although this is the world record for conventional trains (that is, those running on normal rails) the Japanese MAGLEV train set an overall train speed record of 581 km/h. At the other end of the scale, the world’s slowest train is said to be the last running train in Cambodia, which has a top speed of only 17 km/h. The normal top speed of the TGV (as in today’s photo) is 320 km/h, although there are plans to raise this in time.

Thought for the day….” A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can see from the top of a mountain”.

” A ship in a harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are for”.

I had forgotten just how good travel by train could be. I recently travelled down through Europe on long-distance night train, and it was very interesting to compare this trip with the return trip, which was by air. No early check in at an airport, no expensive airport ‘box’ hotel, and no long queues to endure. No silly security checks, and nobody on the train was worried that I was carrying toothpaste or liquids which at an airport would be taboo. No need to check in at all, just board the train and find the sleeping compartment. Pleasant evening on the way down through Europe, good snacks in the cafe, and coffee that was far better than airline coffee. And add to that a good nights sleep and it makes a very pleasant journey. Then next morning breakfast in the train cafe and voila, it was time to arrive (and on time too). Compare that to the hassle and frustration at airports and being squashed in economy class for the flight back. Flight back was late, on an old aircraft and delayed even further due to passengers travelling with far too many carry on bags. Perhaps one day the train will be THE way to travel again…….The recent trip was a very interesting comparison.

Today’s photo is from the central part of Switzerland, with a photo of Swiss cow bells on a woodland hotel. Very Swiss !

Thought for the day….” If money does not grow on trees, then why do banks have branches? “.

” Why do round pizzas come in square boxes? “

When we travel now, we are never really out of touch, because with internet and mobile phones, then there is always a link, even in surprisingly ‘remote’ places. In the news from Japan is a story that they are launching internet ‘fasting camps’ so that the estimated 1/2 million children in Japan who are addicted to the internet can receive help. California in the USA already has a digital detoxing resort for adults but the Japanese Education authority is now targeting children in an attempt to get them to do more activities WITHOUT internet.

Today’s photo shows one of the great railway journeys in the world, the Oslo-Bergen line in Norway. Seen here on an early autumn day, is the train heading for Oslo, not far from the town of Nesbyen. The 493km journey crosses the Hardangervidda plateau, and reaches a height of 1222m at Finse before descending to sea level near Bergen. The newer tilting trains that were introduced on this line in 2000 are gradually being replaced by locomotive hauled trains (as in the photo) which handle the snow and conditions on the line better.